COUPLES who stay together through the ups and downs of early married life can look forward to greater happiness than they felt in the first flush of new love, research claims.

Couples who stick together through the ups and downs can look forward to greater happiness

If they can make it through the pressures of raising and supporting a family to their 20th anniversary and beyond, people say they feel happier and spend more time in shared activities than they did as newlyweds.

In fact, long-standing married couples can experience “even deeper levels of appreciation, closeness and contentment”, according to an American study of 2,034 married people.

Researchers Paul Amato and Spencer James, of Pennsylvania State and Brigham Young Universities respectively, realised that other studies had lumped together people headed for divorce with those whose marriage survived, without considering that their “relationship trajectories” were entirely different.

In their report, they said: “Although divorce is common these days, about half of all marriages last a lifetime and the long-term outlook for most of these marriages is upbeat, with happiness and interaction remaining high, and discord declining.”

The Service will begin at 1200. The Dean of Windsor, The Rt Revd. David Conner, will conduct the Service. The Most Revd. and Rt Hon. Justin Welby, Archbishop of Canterbury, will officiate as the couple make their marriage vows

St George's Chapel at Windsor Castle, Berkshire, where Prince Harry and Meghan Markle will have their wedding service

Mr Benson, 57, and Kate, 53, from near Taunton, Somerset, said: “From our crisis of drifting apart after eight years when we had our two youngest, our marriage has definitely improved over the next 24.

“I think a lot of it is about children. We had six so there was always plenty of scope for exhaustion and disagreements.”

Mrs Benson said: “Now our kids are slowly leaving home, we are really noticing the benefit of putting each other first.”

The couple have written a book called What Mums Want And Dads Need To Know, which chronicles some of the best and worst times of married life.

Mrs Benson said: “We have so much to look forward to. Kindness and friendship are really important to us. That’s what makes it all work.”